The phenomenon of video games being released in an unfinished state and then elying on updates over time is a unique aspect of gaming culture. Something other forms of art and media like film, music, or literature would never really rely upon.
In these more traditional forms, the expectation is that once a work is released, it is a finished product, with little room for major changes post-release. You would never expect a director to release a movie, only to say, “we’ll fix the CGI in a few months,” or a musician to drop an album with the promise of better mixing later.
1. Interactive Complexity
Video games are inherently interactive, meaning that they have to account for a wide variety of player inputs, actions, and decisions. Unlike movies or albums, which follow a linear path from start to finish, games tend to be designed as complex systems with a multitude of possible outcomes, mechanics, and technical interactions. So finding bugs is a task relayed to the audience instead. Game developers use the player base as a form of mass testing, fixing issues after the game is in the hands of millions. This concept is almost unheard of in other media. Imagine a musician saying, “I’ll release my album and let my listeners help me figure out which tracks need reworking.” In gaming, however, this kind of iterative process has been normalized
2. Live Service Model
Many modern video games, especially in the AAA space, operate under a live service model, meaning that they are designed to evolve over time with regular updates, new content, and gameplay improvements. This model has fundamentally changed player expectations, as many gamers are accustomed to games receiving long-term support. In contrast, a movie or book is generally regarded as a finished product upon release, with no expectation that it will be materially altered afterward. This is part of being an interactive software I suppose and an option that comes from having a history of
3. Economic and Time Pressures
Game development is a labor-intensive, time-consuming process, often requiring years of work by large teams. Due to intense competition, marketing hype, and financial pressures from investors or publishers, many developers feel compelled to release games before they are fully polished. This is the excuse I hear most often and I have to say … so are movies.
I could see something like that being done with music, I’ve never heard of it being done, but I could see it happen. Songs are usually just quick enough that I could see people listen to a song that evolves over time as the musician tries to get it “just right”. Usually though, people form a preliminary opinion about which tracks they like on an album and if it’s not good the first time, they’re not as likely to re-listen to a track (even if it got updated every few weeks/months). There’s a documentary on The Rolling Stones on how they came up with Sympathy for the Devil that shows how that song develops in the studio over time and it’s really interesting to watch it unfold, knowing what it will eventually turn into, but I can’t imagine doing that for a song that may or may not actually go anywhere.
With movies though, they probably have one shot to get it right, after that, most people aren’t going to sit through another showing of a movie to see what changes they make to it (changes they may not even notice). Games are so goddamn complex though that I can’t imagine any game getting released and not having to get patched at some point in its life-cycle. Plus, alot of games are meant to be played over and over again over the course of days/weeks/months, so it wouldn’t be a big ask to have people download an update for a game, especially if they’re fixing a bunch of shit that is annoying players.
I do currently have two different revisions of a song I’m composing, on my phone.
But yeah, I’m a hobbyist. I imagine, once you get something published onto dozens of platforms, it’s going to be nigh impossible to update it.
Josefus was a heavy blues band that released a lot of the same songs on each album, but a different version each time.
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